


Snapshot

by justhuman



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-25
Updated: 2004-05-25
Packaged: 2017-10-29 10:46:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/319054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justhuman/pseuds/justhuman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy and Willow chatting on a shopping trip</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshot

"This is so much better than the mall." Willow gave an emphatic nod as she and Buffy walked down the covered sidewalk passing the strip mall storefronts.

The smile on Buffy's face was a little sad. "Thanks, Will, but you don't have to try and make me feel better. I really appreciate you rescuing me from Mom and fancy dress stores and..." Buffy trailed off sighing as they stepped in front of a card store.

"Valentine's Day." Windows were covered in tacky hearts in cheap lace and shiny metallic foil, which for the first time since she was about six, Willow was actually excited about. "I think we both might need to be rescued."

"Willow! You have a guy. You've got a guy in the band."

"Oh!" Willow caught herself looking away and quickly picked her head back up, because her mother kept saying that it made her look weak, unassertive. "I didn't mean from Oz. I was definitely thinking more about the cheesy decorations. Are you okay?"

Buffy started walking again. "Yeah. I mean, no. I don't know what I mean. I suppose it's not any worse than it was yesterday, but still all the reminders of other people being, you know, happy. Of course when I bring someone a moment of true happiness- Willow, I'm cursed."

"No, not cursed. I mean." Willow wasn't sure what she meant. Well okay ,she did, but she wasn't sure if it would actually make Buffy feel any better. "Okay, this is going to sound wrong, but I think you're kinda blessed, and I'm not talking about being the Slayer. Even if it was for a moment -- that's more than some people ever have, even if they're with someone."

Ack, Buffy was having the puppies have died look. Feeling self-conscious Willow turned away from Buffy as they stepped though the enormous sliding door that had opened when they approached.

"Hey! You. Oz. Looking very happy; I need hope."

Turning back towards Buffy, Willow felt a momentary panic. "Oh, it's not Oz and liking Oz and wanting to decorate every notebook I have with little purple hearts and writing WR & DO in them." Looking around quickly, Willow made sure there was no one there to hear that last part. "Uhm, you won't actually tell anyone that I said that, will you?"

With a little salute, Buffy gave Willow a real smile. "Best friends never tell, but what's up?"

Giving a little sigh of relief, Willow stepped around a large display and stared heading down one of the long aisles. "Every time he touches me... you know, like touching my cheek or holding my hand, it's like I'm desperately thinking that I want him to _touch_ me." Willow checked in for a moment and saw that Buffy understood, but that she had something faraway in her eyes.

"The _touching_ is nice."

Willow's mind was on a desperate quest for the right thing to say except there wasn't a right thing to say, so she rushed out with the first thing that popped into her head. "It's just that the other feelings haven't gone away."

"Xander. Wow, both at the same time? I mean I've had crushes at the same time, but- Is Oz a crush?"

"No. Yes." Willow was lost, very lost. "Maybe? I mean, this isn't like anything I've felt before. A crush is wishing that Giles would get bored with demons some night and pour you a cup of cocoa and want to read you Jane Austin, with his sexy British voice." Willow went to the happy, comfortable place where everything suddenly became a little squishy inside, but snapped back immediately at Buffy's eww.

"Oh, oh." Buffy looked like she had just swallowed a bug or something worse. "Eww. I may need to scrub my brain with bleach." Looking immediately apologetic, Buffy went on, "I just can't think of Giles like that. I mean, I get the sexy British voice thing because, yeah, Bond, but the only thing that British voice ever tells me is practice and be careful. You know, it would be like thinking about your parents-"

"Ewww!" An image of walking into her parent's bedroom that Willow had been trying to repress ever since she was eight flew through her head. "Okay, no more Giles, and no more _parents_."

Buffy gave a nod.

"But Xander never felt like a crush. I mean, I guess it technically always was, but to me it had always been something different, something predestined."

Adjusting her backpack, Buffy used one hand to push a twenty-foot high rolling stairs out of their way. "I get that and now that we know he's dating..."

"It's okay, I'm getting used to it, not." Willow sighed heavily and pushed down the surge of anger that ran through her system. "Cordelia." Needing to change the subject, Willow looked at the aisle way, wrapped pallets towering high above them. "Which department do you think they're in?"

"I was going to go with garden, but I'm not seeing anything. Hardware maybe?" Shrugging, Buffy led the way down the aisle, pausing to pick up a wooden garden marker, snapping it in half. Willow couldn't help herself and giggled a little as Buffy tucked the broken bits back into the bin.

Buffy stepped closer to Willow and further from the mini stakes. "So, does it help that they still don't like each other?"

Giving a slight nod, Willow admitted, "A little. I guess it's more like thinking the world is round all your life, but then finding out it's flat."

"I so get that. I can't even tell you what I was thinking when I found out that cutting Vrekaks to pieces wasn't enough--that you had to-" Buffy must have caught on that Willow didn't think demon slaughtering made a good analogy here. Although, Willow had considered looking up stuff to see if there was a way to prove someone was definitely a demon. Because finding out Cordelia was an actual demon instead of a person that acted like one...

"Will?"

"Oh, sorry. Just thinking that it's not fair that we only get to kill off legitimate hell spawn and not the ones we go to school with."

Buffy's arm had wrapped around Willow's shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze. "Tell me about Oz - what he makes you feel."

A rush and flutter ran through Willow's body and she couldn't stop a smile from coming onto her face. The sound of Oz's voice in her head was sending shockwaves down Willow's spine, and it was a feeling that she had only had with him. Well, okay, maybe once when Amy had fed her raw brownie batter off of a wooden spoon, but Willow tried not to think about that.

"He makes me feel like god or the universe finally decided to notice me and send an interpreter that really gets me."

Buffy's look was wistful, happy, like she was going to that place too, but then it turned into something sad. "Yeah, someone who understands everything you are and doesn't think you're a freak."

Distraction--needed a distraction. Glancing around, Willow was thankful that she finally spotted what they had come for. "Look! Wow, I didn't realize it came on rolls... and there's so many sizes."

"Wow." Reaching out, Buffy ran her hand along the dangling ends of the chains, fat, thin, heavy. Copper colored. "The Home Depot, it's kinda like a jewelry store for construction workers."

Nodding, Willow ran her hand along the cold metal, liking the feel. "And bonus, there's always a TGIF or Applebee's on the edge in the parking lot. Well, except in Baltimore."

"Huh?"

"Long story, junior high trip to Washington DC on a bus that got lost a lot."

Picking out a medium weight chain, Buffy looked at Willow, "What about this one, about six feet?"

Willow took the steel in her hand, knowing that because Buffy had fought him that she'd be a better judge. In her mind's eye, she imagined Oz draped in chains, that neutral look on his face moving into the slightly less neutral look that let Willow know that he liked her. She was surprised that the image gave her a rush--a rush better than brownie mix or Jane Austin with cocoa.

Running the tip of her tongue along her suddenly dry lips, Willow gave a tug on the chain, starting to unroll it. "Better make it twelve feet; wouldn't want him getting away."

~end~

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: Huge thanks to Wesleysgirl for the beta and for keeping me sane... well, as much as anyone can.
> 
> Written for the Core Four Ficathon for Milla, who wanted, Buffy, Willow (nonshippy). Gen or humor, PG, in season 1-2 with Buffy and Willow going shopping, discussion of crushes. No darkfic or anything but canon pairings.


End file.
